Without Excuse

“If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me —”

-Job 9:20

          I haven’t even wanted to think about the Ariel Castro case, much less write about it. Castro has confessed to what was undisputedly exposed in Cleveland last May – that he had kidnapped and imprisoned three girls, violating them as captives in his home for over a decade. Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailThe details are unthinkable, and thankfully we’ll be spared a trial since the accused has pled guilty, accepting a bargain of life imprisonment plus 1000 years in lieu of the death penalty.

But one line from a news item regarding the sentencing caught my eye last week.

While appearing before the judge, according to AP Legal Affairs Writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins, “He (Castro) later said he had been a sexual abuse victim as a child, but the judge cut him off.”

Trying to explain his unexplainable evil, the rapist/kidnapper/sadist pulled out the bad childhood card. And the judge cut him off. Bravo.

Now, if Ariel Castro was violated as a child, that’s horrible. Crimes were committed against him that inevitably scar and confuse, making life harder, and for that he has a legitimate beef. But insinuating that early abuse moved him to his own inconceivable crimes is like adding 2 plus 2 and getting 73,000. 2 plus 2 in fact equals 4, not 73,000, and early injuries plus a bad childhood in fact equals pain, not life destroying actions. You simply cannot hold out the one as a reason for the other.

But I think we’ve got a virtually inborn weakness towards self-justification. It shows up in so many of our arguments, during which we try harder to prove ourselves right than to arrive at the truth. It shows up when we’re kids insisting, “It wasn’t my fault, it was his!”, and as adults when we blame our own irresponsible words or deeds on bad upbringing, bad economy, bad hair.

It showed up, in fact, as soon as Adam sinned, when under God’s confrontive questioning (“Did you eat the fruit I forbade?”) he shuffled the blame onto Eve (“The woman who You gave me bade me eat”) and even, it seems, onto God Himself. (Note the “You gave me this woman” line which insinuates, in essence, “If You hadn’t given me her then none of this would have happened!”)

Job admitted his own mouth would condemn him if he tried self-justifying, and if someone as righteous as he refused to make excuses for himself, then I’d best bite my own excuse-making tongue, and hard. Because when bad things happen to us they’re to be learned from, the sin acknowledged, the healing sought, and the perpetrator forgiven. There’s a place for grieving and weeping over the wrong we’ve endured; that’s healthy and, to a point, very legit. But when the wrongs done to us are used to excuse the wrongs done by us, then we can expect God, like Castor’s judge, to cut us off.

Confessions play well with Him, but excuses? Never. He’ll hear our confessions lovingly and with perfect understanding, always eager to cleanse us and pull us back on our feet. But scripture and, I dare say, your own experience, prove He’s unimpressed by excuses. The bad I’m tempted to do today is the bad I’m ordered to resist by His grace, and no unhappy elements of my past or present will alter the mandate to run the race, shed the sin that so easily besets, and fix my eyes on Him. (Hebrews 12:2)

So God grant that we all be given the salve we need for our wounds, some of which run pretty deep and can’t be dismissed. But God also grant that we call the wounds of our past just what they are: wounds. Not reasons, excuses or extenuating circumstances granting us special permission to cop out. Our own mouths will condemn us if we self-justify, and worse, we’ll miss out on the joy of walking in the Now by plodding through the Then, denying ourselves a victorious stroll we’re invited to by the One who says, with perfect authority, “Behold, I make all things new.”

 

 

 

Comments

Selina | Jul 31, 2013

wow, very well said! I get so upset when someone pulls the "I was abused, so I continue the cycle" or even if someone else says it for them. there are countless people in this world that were sexually molested who took the high road and DID NOT continue the cycle of abuse. we all have the choice to sin, and what we do are the results of our choices and not the results of what happened to us. No one pulls a gun to our head and says to sexually abuse others just because we were.

Sorry if I come across harsh here, I was molested when I was a little girl, and never ever have I tried to justify my life's choices by what happened to me. It took me a long time to forgive, but it is worth every ounce of forgiveness.

Thankyou for stating it so clearly, Joe. God bless.

Julie | Jul 31, 2013

Good post their Joe. Alot to think about. This guy also said he was addicted to porn...that didn't surprise me. Alot of stats on the damage porn can do...how a man starts seeing a woman as an object and not a human being. The whole thing is so very sad. It also makes me wonder how many others are being held against their will like that. :(

Jim | Jul 31, 2013

I'm blessed and fortunate not to have a child abuse card to play. My 5 siblings and I were raised in a loving parsonage. Common to many (most?) ministers in my father's generation, Dad worked hard and long being a bi-vocational pastor, so we were neglected by him, even though we were certain of his love. He simply didn't know how to show it. So, if I have any card to play, it would be neglect and ssa feelings I didn't understand, except that ssa was a forbidden subject. I'm still working on the forgiveness issue, as well as guilt and shame stemming from my same sex attractions.

I appreciate your words that speak so clearly to me where I am.

Add Comment